Admission tensions are boiling over!

I had blogged about LKG admission earlier [link].

Here is an important follow up. All schools, especially English medium, saw long lines of parents to obtain forms. This time the English medium schools had greater demand as the vernacular schools (predominantly non–Kanada) were banned by the Karnatak government for not teaching in Kannada. Many schools had taken permission saying they would teach Kannada but switched to teaching in English. Having received this ban, these schools appealed to the court but unfortunately the court refrained them from teaching in any other language other than the one they applied for.

"I was one amongst the thousands of parents waiting in line for their child's admission. The best part about the process is that I made friends with parents of other children. While waiting in these long queues, we would share information about other schools (like St Xavier's forms availability on Apr 17th) and discuss strategies of obtaining new forms."

At Divine Providence School, I saw parents lined up at 10 pm the previous night – just to get forms. They even chose to sleep at the gates to be the first in line. I could not personally muster the courage to sleep overnight and instead went there at 4 am in the morning. I was amazed to see 200 parents already lined up at 4 am – all very anxiously waiting! Imagine the difficult scenario. By 7 am all the forms were given out and parents were asked to go into classrooms, about 50 in each – fill the form & pay Rs.10. After which parents sped off to St. Joesphs in Camp, Belgaum.

There are 180 odd seats and 2000+ applications in all schools. This discrepancy could be because some may be applying everywhere but still the demand and supply difference is huge! In some instances the school management is being considerate to parents who camp overnight – they are handed coupons so that their queue is marked, as a result of which they don’t have to stay over night. On this same day, the line for St. Pauls was most likely the longest.

After we submitted the forms, we were given an acknowledgement wherein the date of interview was mentioned. They completed all interviewing within two days. Most children were asked similar questions – What is your name baby? Who is this – your dad or uncle? Sing a rhyme and so on.

Now that the interviews over, the fate of admission is hanging in uncertainty. With God’s grace and a combination of the child’s ability & luck the admissions will be determined! If the child is selected the parents will certainly celebrate. If not, then what? Touch the management or some other VIP’s feet, pay a hefty donation and get the child in school (?)

At this moment all the parents are eagerly awaiting approval. All admission results are expected in the next week. Some schools have said they would post the decisions (via mail). This week will be a nightmare for most parents. Our innocent children are oblivious to these complicated & tense situations – they only have a pure wish of ending up in a big school soon.

Personally, I am under immense pressure! I have never had such tension in my entire life – for any exam or result. What if my child doesn’t get admission? What should be my future course? Many agents have surfaced in Belgaum city to plunge into the new trade of admissions. Most of them will be fake (from a qualitative perspective). All I can say to the parent community is to stay optimistic – things will hopefully workout for all of us – May God be with you!

Edited with inputs from PK.

Labels: admission, DP, lkg, schooll, st.Pauls high school